| Although Hillary Rodham Clinton, among others, has criticized Rudy Guliani for his comments describing INS agents as "stormtroopers", new revelations support such language. Janet Reno claims that her use of heavily armed agents was justified by the fear that some in and around the Gonzales house were armed. What is instructive, however, is to examine what happened and why. Force was used, not against armed kidnappers of Elian, but rather against unarmed members of the press. What really was going on was a vicious attack on freedom of the press. The thugs who barged into the house took care to knock out cameramen so there would be no videotape of the actual seizure of the boy. Fortunately, an AP photographer was able to get the now famous picture of the INS agent with a gun facing the terrified Elian. No videotape exists because the agents knocked down a NBC cameraman. National Review has a good editorial on this incident. There were only brief press stories about this aspect of the raid. While reasonable people may disagree about whether Reno was justified in seizing the boy, how can one describe the brutal, intentional disabling of the press as anything but a fascist attack on the freedom of the press? Rudy is right on in his description of the agents as "StormTroopers!" Who will be the next victim of DOJ jack-booted thugs? I support Congressional hearings for this reason only. An administration willing to use such extreme measures to avoid unflattering press coverage is a real menace to the constitution and our freedom. |